Chapter 186: _Take Death A Step Further

Words : 1137 Updated : Oct 6th, 2025

Chapter 186: _Take Death A Step Further "Kaelos..." As soon as I whispered his name, he froze. He was wearing a black suit with a ceremonial cape that flowed into the air behind him. When he turned around slowly to face me, his shoulder-length black hair obscured his face a bit, although his silver eyes still shone as bright as ever. "Kaelos, it’s really you..." I couldn’t help but say as I rushed to him, spreading my arms before hugging him. He froze at first, but soon his arms wrapped around me, soothing whatever distress I had felt instantly. I was safe as long as he held me. "Odessa..." He muttered softly into my ears, his voice low. "You’re actually here. Although, I’m kinda confused about where ’here’ is. Is this heaven? Am I dead?" I scanned my gaze around the ethereal-looking beach after he had finished asking his questions. Or, at least, I thought he had finished asking his questions. "Wait, if I’m dead and you’re here..." He blurted, pulling away from the hug and placing his hands on my shoulder. He stared at my face, guilt flashing in his eyes before he murmured. "Are you dead as well? What did those bastards do to you? I—" "Relax, Kaelos. You aren’t dead and neither am I." I said reassuringly, withholding the urge to giggle as I used my right hand to cup his face, tracing lines along his jawline and the small stubble. "At least, not yet. Your consciousness was... Pulled into this mental space." I scanned my gaze around the mental space, squinting my eyes. Something was wrong. I could sense it. It was too perfect. The gentle breeze, the glimmering sand, the silver moon overhead... it all felt staged, like a memory borrowed rather than lived. Something deep in my gut whispered that this wasn’t a dream... It was a trap. The air suddenly became colder against my skin and the moon’s brightness flickered and pulsated. I stared wearily at it, trying to put one and two together. His being in this mental space was a bit... Dramatic. It was too well constructed. Too planned out. This wasn’t a resting place for his flickering life. This wasn’t his mind trying to relive his memories and all the things he’d experienced in his lifetime. Someone or something made this space in his psyche after he was struck with the final blow from Gamma Zane. "Pulled?" Kaelos repeated my words with furrowed eyebrows as he placed his right hand on my waist protectively, scanning his gaze around wearily. "Pulled by what? Or by who?" Before I could say anything, lightning and thunder crackled wildly in the sky above us. The night sky became darker in the mental space and the clouds began to swirl around like a void vortex. The wind around us was sucked into the twisting vortex, causing our clothes to get blown into the wind. I stared at the clouds wearily as I held Kaelos’ right hand, clenching my jaw. "It all makes sense now," I mumbled, tensing up. "Magic. Your consciousness was pulled into this space by a spell that imprinted on you after you were stabbed. The witch helping Celine and Gamma Zane..." I paused as I clenched my fists, trying to see if I could access my magic in this mental space. The last thing I wanted was to feel powerless. ’You’re anything but powerless, girl.’ Sirena suddenly spoke in my mind, causing my shoulders to slouch with relief. ’I’m here with you and so is your magic. But first... We gotta identify what the heck is in those clouds.’ I nodded subconsciously as I dimmed my eyes at the clouds. It was brimming with more energy and trembled with more lightning that crackled through the vast night sky. It seemed to be coming closer and closer, getting me more anxious. Meanwhile, Kaelos tightened his grip on my hand beside me, growling before he snapped with a voice that boomed louder than the thunder. "Whoever or whatever you are... Show yourself!" No sooner had he said those words than when a huge bolt of lightning blasted the seawater in front of us, forcing us to step back as we used our arms to cover our faces from the brightness and water droplets. I dimmed my eyes, watching as the lightning blast sustained for several seconds before finally clearing away as fast as it had come. My lips parted open when I saw who levitated above the seawater. "Z–Zane..." Kaelos mumbled beside me with disbelief. Indeed, the person levitating in front of us was Gamma Zane, or at least, a manifestation of his consciousness. He was very much dead in the physical plane but here he seemed alive and well, wearing a black suit just like Kaelos and having dark clouds surround him as he floated toward us. His eyes glowed with a sickly gold hue, and black veins snaked along his neck like the roots of some corrupted tree. The sea below him hissed as if recoiling from his presence. He clenched his fists, sighing with satisfaction before he grinned wildly. "You two thought you had seen the last of me. But when I stabbed Kaelos with that enchanted dagger... I knew death wouldn’t be the end. I could see it. I could feel it." Lightning crackled and slithered like snakes around him as his grin became even more malicious and colder. He raised both his palms, his right hand, which had been severed back in reality, now whole again. "You made a deal with the witch to grant you powers within this mental space." I blurted with a scoff, tilting my head. "Powers which you know damn well you could never have in real life. Isn’t that telling?" As expected, my words triggered him as he clenched his jaw and thundered with a voice that shook the mental plane. "You might’ve been a big shot in the real world, hybrid! But here, I am your god!" He hissed. "In here, flesh means nothing. Power is will. And mine is stronger than death." After saying that, he waved his right hand, sending a powerful blast of lightning at Kaelos and me. I felt the power of the energies within it before it even reached us and reacted quickly, grabbing Kaelos’ arms and jumping out of the range of the blast. When the both of us landed on the sharp sand of the beach, all I could hear was Gamma Zane’s crazed laughter as more lightning began flashing all around us. "Let’s take death a step further and erase both your souls out of existence. Permanently!" Zane said with a cold voice before sending another blast of lightning at us, this one two times bigger than the last.

Chapter 186: _Take Death A Step Further

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